The present invention relates to wearable electronic devices for swimmers that provide swimming performance comparisons while the swimmer wearing the wearable electronic device is swimming in water.
Swimming is a sport that keeps people in great shape. Swimming exercises most of the body's muscles, and swimming can even save one's life. For most of competitive sports, it is almost guaranteed that people will eventually get hurt by sport injuries. In comparison, swimming is a sport that rarely causes serious injury. However, like me, most swimmers have bumped their head at the end of the pool while swimming backstroke. While at full sprinting speed, this type of injury may even result in minor concussions, and is also quite painful. It is desirable to design swimming goggles that allow swimmers to see the end of the pool without moving their head while swimming in backstroke. Also, backstroke swimmers often swim in a curvy zigzag path in their lane instead of a simple direct straight line. If the swimmer swims in a zigzag path, then the distance that they swim will be longer, and it also makes them look bad. It is desirable for a swimmer to see the sights behind them while swimming backstroke, so that they may line up their position, thus allowing the swimmer to swim in a straight line. It is also desirable to have swimming goggles that can help swimmers maintain proper head position while swimming backstroke.
Decorato in U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,345 disclosed a swimming goggle equipped with special lens that attaches onto the front of the eye sockets, increasing the user's lateral vision. It, however, does not enable the ability to see behind his or herself, and does not provide wide enough visual range to support backstroke.
Lathrop in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,340 disclosed a pair of comfortable competition goggles with anti fog washing, watertight fits that enhance the eyesight, and improved forward vision that allows the user to see the wall without lifting their head while swimming the crawl, breast, and butterfly strokes. The swimming goggles, however, does not improve backwards vision, and cannot benefit the ability to see the end of the pool without moving their head while swimming in backstroke.
Tagyo in U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,822 disclosed an attractively shaped pair of goggles that provide watertight vision, and allow the user to swim faster due to its smooth single large lens. It, however, does not provide the ability to see the wall while swimming backstroke.
Yokota in US Patent Application No. 20060010587 disclosed a pair of goggles that use a contact section that attaches to the area around the eye in the eye socket, therefore, improving the user's field vision. The goggles also prevent light refraction that may cause discomfort to the owner. These goggles may enhance the peripheral vision while swimming backstroke, but it does not give a clear vision of the wall; the swimmers still need to change their normal head positions to see the wall. It also does not use a light reflector.
Desbordes in French patent number FR 2630653 disclosed a swimming goggle that has a backstroke viewing window and a light reflector. The light reflector does not switch position with respect to the front viewing window, and it does not change position depending on the body motions of the swimmer.
Huang in Chinese patent number CN201105124 disclosed a swimming goggle that has a backstroke viewing window and a light reflector. Huang apparatus provides visibility to overhead direction when the swimmer is in position for backstroke, freestyle, and diving in order to avoid colliding with other swimmers in a crowed swimming pool. Huang's apparatus does not address the needs to view different parts of the swimming pool while the swimmer is swimming backstroke versus freestyle.
None of the above prior art swimming goggles comprise electric control mechanisms.
Li in US publication number 2010/0030482 disclosed devices that monitor the body orientation of a swimmer, and provide real time comparisons between the current performance of the swimmer and previously achieved performances of the same swimmer. However, Li's device does not measure the head orientation of a swimmer. Head orientation is significantly different from body orientation because the accelerations at the head of a swimmer are significantly different from the accelerations at the body of a swimmer. This is because head motions are very different than body motions when swimming, an idea that has been proven by experimental results. Furthermore, Li does not compare the results of different swimmers, does not adjust the reference data for different swimming conditions, and does not disclose comparisons with universally accepted swimming time standards.
Gear worn by swimmers must be able to withstand strong forces in the water when swimmers are diving, turning, or swimming various strokes at high speeds. The previous application with the Ser. No. 16/253,230 disclosed wearable electronic devices that provide feedback using voice, music, or by adjusting goggle components, and provides additional feedback to the user by comparing the user's current swimming performance with recorded swimming performances, or swimming performances of another swimmer. The previous application also suggested the use of contactless switches to improve water resistance. This patent application discloses further details of such contactless switches and their applications.